The science of affecting fluids by submitting them to magnetic fields has been recognized and used for many years. The phenomenon is known as magnetohydrodynamics. It is based on the observations of Michael Faraday and explained as the electromotive forces generated by passing conductive materials between the poles of magnets. A generator is a common application of this effect. The Lorentz principal states that ions are separated by a charge when passed between the poles of a magnet, further demonstrating the effects of treating fluids with magnetic fields. There are most likely additional discoveries to be made in the application of magnetic forces to a flowing fluid. Volumes of additional information are available and need not be discussed here.
The hydrogen atom is known to be highly susceptible to the influences of magnetic fields. An application of this principal is the processing proton magnetometer that is used to measure the total magnetic intensity of a sample of hydrocarbon fluid or water. Another application of this well know science is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Even though the purpose of both of these concepts is to measure the energy released by the spinning protons after they are aligned by a magnetic field and subsequently disturbed either by the earth's magnetic field or a radio frequency beamed at the sample, they serve to illustrate the scientifically accepted phenomenon of realigning spinning protons with magnetic force. Additionally, such concepts illustrate that energy is released when the spinning protons are so affected.
Spinning protons in fluids including water, alcohol, gasoline, kerosene, and many others act as spinning magnetic dipoles. Under normal circumstances, these protons spin randomly inside their respective atoms. The dipoles are temporarily polarized and aligned by the influence of a magnetic field. Magnets may be employed to create consistent powerful magnetic fields that cause the protons to align and spin in uniform directions. This alignment and subsequent concentration of energy in uniform directions causes an attraction between the hydrocarbon fuel molecule and the oxygen molecule. When used with fuels, the result is increased efficiency by combining more fuel molecules with more oxygen molecules. Hydrocarbon emission tests have been conducted on many vehicles to confirm these facts. Consistently, hydrocarbon emissions have been reduced.
The invention presented herein can be used on all types of equipment that use fuel. Common applications include, but are not limited to, automobiles, trucks, buses, boats, motorcycles, heaters, furnaces, torches, and the like. When used in association with the flow of crude oil in a conduit, the magnetic fluid treatment device also serves to prevent the formation of paraffin and gypsum and other unwanted materials upon the conduit walls. Additional utilization of the invention is to reduce hydrocarbon emissions and increase the efficiency of internal combustion engines and other equipment that uses any type of hydrocarbon based fuel. When used in an agricultural applications, the invention, by increasing the solubility of water, and other phenomenon will enhance plant growth by increasing the amount of water and nutrients the root structure of plants are able to absorb. When used in a waste water treatment application, the invention has proven to enhance the efficiency of waste water treatment facilities by increasing the biological activity of the system. Properly designated magnetic fluid treatment units are recognized with well documented results to increase the efficiency of ion exchange water softener systems thereby reducing the amount of salt needed to regenerate these systems and consequently reducing the volume of toxic salt water brine introduced to the environment. It is further accepted that a properly designated and installed magnetic field will enhance many chemical reactions thereby reducing the amount of chemicals needed to accomplish many tasks such as using chlorine in swimming pools and spas. The application of the magnetic units may also increase the efficiency of natural gas utilization equipment. Many other applications for magnetic fluid treatment currently exist and new ones are being discovered with regularity. The key ingredient appears to be the presence of the hydrogen atom in fluids that are treated with magnetic fields, although there may be other key factors also.
The phenomenon of altering the spin of protons is likewise the reason that a magnetic field will affect the scaling effect that hard water has on conduits and other equipment using water. A similar configuration of magnets has proven to eliminate or reduce the scaling effect of hard water and the corrosive effect of acid water.
Accordingly, it has become well known to employ magnetic fluid treatment devices in fluid conduits to treat the fluid to achieve the benefits mentioned above. However, prior art magnetic fluid treatment devices are typically inefficient in generating a strong magnetic curtain in the fluid flow path and are frequently limited in the sizes of conduit they can treat. Additionally, existing designs require manufacturing techniques that result in high cost due to needing completely different components for each size of conduit. The effectiveness of the magnetic field is, of course, dependent upon the strength of the magnetic field and that strength is also known to be inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the magnetic source. The prior art has been generally ineffective in optimizing the magnetic field strength that may be obtained from a permanent magnet array, and has further been ineffective in treating large systems employing conduits of significant cross sectional diameter in which large volumes of fluid pass. The prior art has further not provided magnetic fluid treatment devices which are modularized to accommodate various fluid flow systems and to allow the magnetic treatment of the same to be tailored to a particular system. Additionally, the prior art has typically not proposed magnetic fluid treatment devices which may be either intrusive for implementation with new fluid flow systems, or non-intrusive to be easily added to existing fluid flow systems.